DEI Programming in the Workplace
As organizations continue to grow and build a safe and accessible work environment for all, many have also begun to adopt more DEI programs: plans and procedures of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.
Here are some ways your DEI program can advocate for diverse representation and participation of employees from all backgrounds, experiences, abilities, skill sets and underrepresented groups.
Need more help prioritizing DEI in your workplace, here are more tips!
DEI Program Framework
To foster and promote DEI, it is beneficial to have a framework to clearly guide your efforts. Here is a straightforward DEI program that sits on the following pillars: Accountability and Governance, Education, and Policies and Practices.
1. Accountability and Governance:
ERGs: An employee resource group (ERG) supports underrepresented employees in the workplace. ERGs are employee-led and are typically organized to provide a safe space to build a sense of belonging among those with similar experiences.
Employees in ERGs can work with their company to improve company culture for underrepresented or alienated workers based on concerns that are discussed. For example, ERG members and organizational decision-makers work to create:
A welcoming environment for employees to raise common concerns
An inclusive company culture
A positive and accessible work environment
Personal and professional growth and development
Educational resources
DEI Council: A DEI council, also called a DEI committee, is a group of employees who meet to discuss ways on how to promote DEI in the workplace. They receive feedback from all employees to ensure that all voices are heard, and provide representation from employees’ different backgrounds within the company.
DEI councils are a way for members to discuss actionable items in regards to DEI, to collaborate with coworkers on how to increase inclusion and accessibility in the workplace, and helps to create strategic accountability for successful results.
Key Performance Indicators: Employers are responsible to make sure that the workplace is a safe place for employees of all backgrounds and abilities.
Using Key Performance Indicators to assess your company’s efforts and then acting on the resulting data works to accomplish any DEI goals.
Key Performance Indicators measure fairness in the workplace, strengths of your organization’s brand, employee demographics and representation, employee diversity, retention among diverse groups, and overall employee satisfaction.
2. Education:
E-Learning: E-Learning involves generating opportunities to learn about DEI to elevate our individual and collective consciousness.
By delivering consistent training to all employees and measuring individual and collective impact, E-Learning tools can help change attitudes and behaviours, which is vital in turning DEI strategies, policies and goals into a reality. Online training gives employees more independence, control and flexibility.
Instead of organizing training in-person sessions and pulling employees away from their scheduled work times, they can learn at their own pace.
Training: DEI training increases staff morale by building a safe and equitable workspace through education.
DEI training can uncover the historical inequities related to inclusion, race, and ethnicity, dives into the importance of how diversity can affect a company and offers greater participation of marginalized individuals. They can also benefit company culture, boost growth potential and increase trust among colleagues.
Education in the workplace will help to broaden our mindset by offering presentations and discussions to build awareness of unconscious bias or other barriers in DEI and belonging. These trainings provide resourceful information and education to encourage individuals to take ownership of their DEI commitment.
Promoting continuing education during the onboarding process helps create a culture of learning, growth, and engagement throughout the company.
3. Policies and Practices:
Initiatives: Initiatives are high-priority efforts that a workplace follows to achieve each goal. When a company establishes initiatives, they state their commitment to ensuring a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment.
Stating clear initiatives helps to remove barriers in marginalized communities, helps employees learn to trust their teams and allows them to become comfortable addressing any concerns with management.
Policies should always include the process of navigating any form of inequity in the workplace by stating the repercussions, providing resources and support when employees are faced with discrimination and including how the company will monitor and assess the effectiveness of each policy.
How e-Learning Fits in a DEI Program
When people think about DEI education, they usually think about a typical DEI training - 60 minutes, in person and in a boardroom. However, effective DEI education programs have a variety of different methods to deliver training, such as on-the-job training, case studies, and video-based training, to name a few.
CultureAlly takes the approach of thinking outside of the box regarding DEI programming. One way we help clients do this is through e-Learning. As e-Learning has proven to greatly increase employees’ engagement with and retention of key information, we developed CultureAlly e-Learning software. This online, continuous learning program caters to those differences while also enabling employees to build the core competencies they need to foster a more inclusive environment.
Our personalization engine adapts as each employee interacts with the tool, gauging things like personal preferences, learning styles, and topics of interest to ensure that DEI learnings continue to be tailored to each individual.
Each week employees will receive a new DEI learning where they can:
Share content and start conversations with colleagues
Track progress and save their favorite content
Stay motivated and have fun with their learning by unlocking milestones, quizzes and earning rewards
CultureAlly's eLearning platform is valuable because it delivers bit-sized pieces of content weekly based on the learners’ topic of interest, where it is self-paced and convenient. It offers access to updated educational content and accessibility is open, secure and uninterrupted.
DEI programming encourages greater involvement from everyone in your company. This includes providing every employee the opportunity to learn, grow, and offer allyship so that we may always lead with a DEI mindset.
To create an inclusive workplace, learning ways to support underrepresented employees is crucial. Taking part in the DEI programs your company has to offer is a great way to educate and start conversations amongst colleagues and your community.
